Barry Alvarez not a fan of Bret Bielema's departure for Arkansas

Some day down the road, Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema may look back on their time shared together at Wisconsin with fondness. That day is not today. 

"I've moved on," Alvarez told Andy Baggot of the Wisconsin State Journal. "He left. I know the business. I don't have any problem with that."

"I just didn't like some of the things that went down afterwards or how he did it," Alvarez continued. "You made the decision to go to Arkansas. Go to Arkansas. Good luck. You don't have to take any swipes. I just didn't appreciate that."

In particular, Alvarez did not appreciate Bielema's reasoning of his opportunity to increase pay for his assistants at Arkansas, and his public declaration of such desire, as his motivation to leave Wisconsin. 

To make matters worse, Bielema and Dave Doeren, the former Wisconsin defensive coordinator, swiped a number of Wisconsin assistants on the way to their new head coaching destinations. To put the cherry on top of a very trying December, the Alvarez-coached Badgers lost their third straight Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

With new head coach Gary Andersen in place, Alvarez has every reason to put the recent past behind him. On a day when we are reminded not to take the words of public figures at face value, one has every reason to believe it when Alvarez says he's moved on.

"I'm beyond that," Alvarez said. "I don't even think about that anymore....Someday I will."